Flying high with the Fabulous Wallendas at Big Apple Circus

By R. Scott Reedy Correspondent

Sunday

Apr 1, 2018 at 8:23 AMApr 1, 2018 at 9:35 AM

Nik Wallenda was the first person to walk a tightrope over Niagara Falls. A seventh-generation member of the renowned family of high-wire performers, the Flying Wallendas, he has also crossed the Grand Canyon and traveled the Atlantic City shoreline by tightrope.

And while he’s in town this month headlining the 40th-anniversary national tour of the Big Apple Circus - opening April 7 at Assembly Row in Somerville - Wallenda just might check out one of his wish-list locations for a future tightrope walk.

“It would be a dream to walk over Fenway Park. It’s such a beautiful and historic ballpark, one of the only ones like it left in the country,” said Wallenda recently by telephone from a Washington, D.C., tour stop.

“I’m inspired by architecture and the natural wonders of the world. I like postcard moments, when the feat you’re attempting involves someplace truly iconic. It’s all about highlighting the world.”

Few if any circus families are more legendary than the Wallendas. With roots in 18th-century Austria-Hungary and Germany, the family gained fame in the United States 90 years ago when they made their debut at New York’s Madison Square Garden as part of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. When their safety net was lost in transit, the troupe performed without it and earned a standing ovation.

As founder of the Great Wallendas, later known as the Flying Wallendas, Karl Wallenda was not only the family’s modern patriarch but also its marquee name for decades. In 1978, at age 73, Karl Wallenda lost his balance and fell to his death while attempting to walk between the two towers of the 10-story Condado Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

On June 4, 2011, Nik Wallenda – joined by his mother Delilah - completed the same 100-foot-long high-wire crossing that killed his great-grandfather.

“I have memories of every tightrope walk I’ve ever done, but recreating my great-grandfather’s walk in Puerto Rico will always be a big one for me. To be able to walk in his exact footsteps was a huge honor.

“It was also very emotional. I had wanted to do it my whole life to show the world that we Wallendas carry on,” says the 39-year-old.

It was the late Karl Wallenda who first developed the famous multi-person pyramid now being performed by Nik and his traveling troupe, “The Fabulous Wallendas,” as part of their Big Apple Circus act.

“It’s seven people balancing on a wire the size of a nickel,” explains the proud great-grandson. “It’s inspiring as a great example of teamwork. And it’s also just a very beautiful moment in the show.”

At times, however, the pyramid has resulted in tragedies that have tested the family’s resilience.

A 1962 accident involving a seven-person pyramid in Detroit caused the deaths of Nik and Lijana’s uncles, Dieter Schepp and Richard Faughnan. The pyramid was not performed again until being recreated in Detroit in 1998.

In February 2017, five members of the group were seriously injured in an accident while rehearsing an eight-person high-wire pyramid in Sarasota, Florida.

The Wallendas were practicing their formation 35 feet above the ground when one member became unbalanced, ultimately toppling the entire pyramid. Four performers suffered critical injuries - Nik’s sister, Lijana, 40, broke every bone in her face - and only Nik and a cousin, Blake, were unhurt, clinging to a cable to stop their fall.

Wallenda - who holds 10 Guinness World Records for acrobatic feats - acknowledges that although he suffered no physical injuries, last February’s accident had a profound effect on him.

“When that happened to us, I felt fear for the first time. You have to work to come out of PTSD. You can’t deny what an experience like that does to you. You just have to deal with it.

“The only other family member on the road with me now is my wife, Erendira Wallenda, who comes from the Flying Vasquez Family of trapeze artists. Erendira is part of our act, but does not do the pyramid with me. We decided when we had children that we would not do the pyramid together,” says the father of two sons and a daughter.

And while those children have so far shown no interest in joining the family business, their parents still plan to carry on.

“I’ve walked the high wire since I was 13. It’s what I love doing. It’s a sport, it’s a challenge, and it’s my passion. It’s not always easy and it’s very mentally challenging, but I love it. Fortunately, my wife shares the same passion,” says Wallenda.

The couple also share a love of the circus. They had previously performed with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which closed two years ago after 146 years in business. When the Big Apple Circus filed for bankruptcy that November, the pair, like many, wondered if the circus tradition would survive.

Big Apple Circus emerged from a February 2017 bankruptcy auction with new owners and is now operated by BigTop Works.

“When we were asked to be a part of the Big Apple Circus, we felt like it was something very important we could do for our industry. We very much wanted to help relaunch Big Apple and help keep the circus industry alive.

“Circus is one of the oldest forms of live performance art. Society has changed and the circus has to keep up with that,” according to Wallenda. “Cirque du Soleil has brought the circus into the 21st century, and Big Apple is doing its part, too.”

In an increasingly sophisticated entertainment world, Wallenda is happy to be helping to keep the circus tradition alive.

“We meet the audience outside the tent after every show and children often ask to touch me. They want to see if I am real or something created with CGI,” says Wallenda with a laugh.